Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

At the time of his death in 1998, Alfred Kazin was considered one of the most influential intellectuals of postwar America. What is less well known is that Kazin had been contributing almost daily to an extensive private journal, which arguably contains some of his best writing. These journals collectively tell the story of his journey from Brooklyn's Brownsville neighborhood to his position as a dominant figure in twentieth-century cultural life.To Kazin, the daily entry was a psychological and spiritual act. To read through these entries is to reexperience history as a series of daily discoveries by an alert, adventurous, if often mercurial intelligence. It is also to encounter an array of interesting and notable personalities. Sketches of friends, mistresses, family figures, and other intellectuals are woven in with commentary on Kazin's childhood, early religious interests, problems with parents, bouts of loneliness, dealings with publishers, and thoughts on the Holocaust. The journals also highlight his engagement with the politicaland#160;and culturaland#160;debatesand#160;of the decades through which he lived. He wrestles with communism, cultural nationalism, liberalism, existentialism, Israel, modernism, and much more.

Judiciously selected and edited by acclaimed Kazin biographer Richard Cook, this collection provides the public with access to these previously unavailable writings and, in doing so, offers a fascinating social, historical, literary, and cultural record.

Review

"This is a remarkable book, easily one of the great diaries and moral documents of the past American century."and#8212;Dwight Garner, New York Times

Review

"Kazinand#8217;s [journals], just now published by Yale University Press, may well turn out to be his greatest work."and#8212;Mark Shechner, Tablet Magazine

Review

and#8220;With the publication of Alfred Kazinand#8217;s Journals, this Brooklyn-born son of Jewish immigrants is poised to join the literary giants who inspired him. . . . Kazin comes vibrantly alive in the journals.and#8221;and#8212;Chris Waddington, New Orleans Times-Picayune

Review

and#8220;A profound and exciting book, more so even than the best of the dozen works of criticism and autobiography that [Kazin] published during his lifetime.and#8221;and#8212;Edward Mendelson, New York Review of Books

Review

and#8220;A monumental offering from one of the greatest and most challengingand#8212;and often underratedand#8212;literary minds of the 20th century . . . As essential as it is, perhaps, overdue.and#8221;and#8212;Jeff Simon, Buffalo News

Review

and#8220;[This] richly, intimately detailed and meticulously kept journal, full of searing insights, punishingly honest confessions, acerbic assessments of others, and golden nuggets of timeless wisdom . . . serve[s] us as Kazinand#8217;s autobiography even better than do his three volumes of memoir.and#8221;and#8212;Gerald Sorin, Haaretz

Review

and#8220;Richly unmediated expressiveness . . . a remarkable demonstration of how good writing struggles to emerge from the inner chaos with which we all live and that only a writer as talented as Alfred Kazin can bring to its knees.and#8221;and#8212;Vivian Gornick, Boston Review

Review

and#8220;[Kazinand#8217;s] deepest work . . . The journals' overwhelming note is passion. Kazin wrote with his whole being, from a ferocious intensity of hunger and joy.and#8221;and#8212;William Deresiewicz, Slate

Review

Review

"Alfred Kazin's Journals is a profound and exciting book, more so even than the best of the dozen works of criticism and autobiography that he published during his lifetime. . . . Some of Kazin's journals reveal only their author's private darkness, but far more of them open onto vistas of literature and history illuminated by his intelligent excitement."and#8212;Edward Mendelson, The New York Review of Books

Review

and#8220;[A] robust and enveloping selected volume, from which the intensity of Kazinand#8217;s engagement with life beams forth . . . . Frank about sex, scathing in his portrayal of his peers, prescient about world events, and passionate about literature.and#8221;and#8212;Donna Seaman, Booklist

Review

"The book's informative scholarly apparatusand#8212;particularly the explanatory footnotesand#8212;provides excellent guidance to Kazin's references and relationships. This noteworthy book is vital for understanding this eminent literary critic. Highly recommended."and#8212;S.L. Kremer, Choice

Review

and#8220;[F]illed with expression of direct experience of life by a keen observer of much of the twentieth century.and#8221;and#8212;Esther Nussbaum, Jewish Book World

Review

and#8220;These journals, ably edited and annotated by Kazin's biographer, display all his passions . . . [and] give us an intimate look at one of the great [men of letters].and#8221;and#8212;Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Review

and#8220;and#8216;Of all his writing, the journal was most dear to Kazin, whose suffering is palpable and authentic throughout. The journal represents with merciless self-honesty an almost manic-depressive oscillation between self-affirmation and self-loathing and an insurmountable loneliness with a keen desire for sociability.and#8221;and#8212;Eugene Goodheart, Professor Emeritus of English, Brandeis University

Review

and#8220;There is a jagged magnificence to these journals. Kazinand#8217;s journal is a profound, almost pendular, oscillation between his stunning portraits of others and his ruthless investigations of himself, of his strangeness, his engorged sexual appetites, his lack of social grace, his refusal to ease graciously into his success. There is nothing placidly retrospective about them.andnbsp; He can be bitter, lyrical, musical, rapturous, acerbic and#8211; sometimes all in one glorious sentence.andnbsp; They are a fire fueled by intimations of immortality, a rapture laced with resentment.andnbsp; The journals are a gold mine for future critical thinkers and a treasure house of English writing.and#8221;and#8212;Mark Shechner, Professor of English, University at Buffalo

Review

and#8220;The extraordinary, often anguished journals of Alfred Kazin, like those of Edmund Wilson though different in tone, throw valuable light on American writing and writers in the 20th century, and rank among the few indispensable documents of their kind.and#8221;and#8212;Sean Wilentz, Professor of History, Princeton University

Review

and#8220;Kazinand#8217;s journal entries are often keenly, piercingly, sometimes painfully, personal. Kazin emerges as a very complicated, brilliant, exasperating character -- incisive, unsparing in his judgments of himself as well as others, moody, funny, harsh, lyrical, and poignant. An edition of Kazin's journals is a major literary and cultural eventand#8221;and#8212;William E. Cain, Professor of English, Wellesley College

Review

Review

"It [Kazin's diary] makes for a fascinating book.and#160;Richard M. Cook has done an admirable job editing and selecting the journals. Given the frankness of what he includes, it is hard to imagine that he censored much...the balance between things seen and the speculations they give rise to is nicely struck. That the book is such a pleasure to read is due in part to its editor."

Review

and#8220;Richard Cook has done a grand job of editingand#8230;.handsome, fascinatingand#8230;and#8230;unignorable slice of 20th century life.and#8221;and#8212;Phillip Horne, The Daily Telegraph

Review

and#8220;Valuable glimpses into the man behind the intellectual warrior.and#8221;and#8212;Martin Rubin, Washington Times